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Monday, August 11, 2008

Do you get lost a lot while driving? If you do you might want to get yourself a GPS navigation system. Dash Navigation, a Sunnyvale, California based startup, which I previously previewed in episode 30 of SOMEWHAT FRANK TV has created an innovative GPS system that connects to the Internet. I recently tested the Dash Express GPS system myself as I spent the day navigating DC with the hot new gadget.

Check out the video (below) which is episode 36 of the video podcast SOMEWHAT FRANK TV. If you like what you see you can purchase your own Dash Express GPS.

Monday, June 23, 2008

The days of fumbling over a map while driving a car appear to be a parting memory as GPS systems have grown increasingly popular of the past few years. The iPhone and other mobile devices have adopted GPS for navigating your way through life. Some newer vehicles are adding GPS as a standard option. Portable GPS devices by Garmin, Tom Tom and other have continued to roll out improved devices. But there is a new GPS startup that is taking what Garmin and Tom Tom have been doing well and taking it a step further.

Dash Navigation, a Sunnyvale, California startup, has launched a product called the Dash Express which not only helps you find your way it also hooks to the Internet for real-time interactivity. This connectivity can be leveraged to offer real-time traffic data based on anomous Dash users. The connection also hooks users up to Yahoo Local search to find local business and other destinations. A new open platform also means that users will be seeing more and functionality and applications offered but some of the notables currently include Twitter which sends your current location to Twitter as well as other applications like WeatherBug which offers real-time weather information based on your current location.

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Somewhat Frank has been taking the brunt of an intense schedule this past week as I have been in Chicago preparing for and hosting the first TECH cocktail CONFERENCE, followed by our 8th Chicago mixer, TECH cocktail Chicago 8 on May 29, 2008. Though it took a lot of time and hard work, it was all worth it as it was a lot of fun as we were able to further our mission of better connecting and amplifying the technology signal by bringing together some of the TECH cocktail community leaders from Boston, Boulder, DC and Chicago as speakers at the TECH cocktail CONFERENCE which attracted close to 300 guests. From the opening ceremonies where we played the TECH cocktail Song to Gary Vaynerchuk wrapping up the day of speakers it was a lot of fun. All the speakers did an amazing job and we are very appreciative of their participation and support. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to see all the panels as I was pretty emceeing the event and making sure things run smoothly.

Patent Monkey: Yahoo Ready to Smash Up the Mash Ups
Yahoo was recently granted a patent that could cause a bit of a shake-up to other web portal companies if acted on. The patent covers the ability to give users control over customized templates that are saved and stored on a
host server and the idea that real-time information is stored on the host server
and delivered to the user in the template.

Google Is Now Reporting Feed SubscribersGoogle has started reporting subscriber counts for Google Reader and Google Personalized Homepage. What does this mean? This is one more data point to help you understand how many people have
asked to receive your feed (aka "subscribers"). The number that Google is reporting is
the total number of Google users who've subscribed to your feed in
Reader or with Personalized Homepage. Somewhat Frank has seen a huge spike in subscribers via FeedBurner as Google products were previously not part of FeedBurner subscription counts. TechCrunch's subscriber count spike is even more glaring as it went from about 178K to 261K overnight. Thank you Google!

Xdrive Shows and Autocopy Beta TestsXdrive Shows is a new web-based application available on Xdrive that
allows you to combine pictures and music into multimedia slide shows. Watch a Xdrive Shows demo here. Autocopy, a new feature in the latest version of the Xdrive desktop
client software, enables automatic uploads of music and photos directly
from your PC to your Xdrive account. Give Xdrive Shows and Autocopy a whirl here.

Mobile Search Not That Hot?Andy Beal looks closely at a recent UK survey of mobile phone users which suggests that there may be no where near the amount of people using their cell phones for search as previously thought. Do you search the web on your mobile device?

Dash fills coffers for Web-connected car navigationVentureBeat reports on a new GPS device that will be connected to the Internet too. That is pretty sweet if you ask me. The device is expected to be priced within the $500 to $800 range, along with the existing leading GPS devices.

Yahoo! Go 2.0 Goes GammaYahoo launched a new gamma version of Yahoo! Go for Mobile
2.0, after the new service initially launched in beta just a month ago.
The gamma version enables users to search
directly from maps and share oneSearch results, news articles and
the service directly with friends.

RSS Reader Triggers Airport SecurityJosh Hallett recently found out the hard way that is you are using the paid wifi in the terminal and you open up a
desktop-based RSS reader like NetNewsWire, the network assumes your
flurry of RSS-grabbing activity is a suspicious event.

Bored? Organize An EggDropMake Magazine just created a handy .pdf and video explaining how to perform your very own EggDrop. I haven't heard about an EggDrop in years, it brings back memories of middle school. So if you are bored or wants to do something different give an EggDrop a try.